A Vacant Fantasy
by MonksyD
Summary: Shion awakens to her home empty, her sister nowhere to be seen. With nothing to do, she decides to walk to the human village in search for her. And yet, curiously, she meets no one on the way there. No fairies, human or youkai. When she arrives at the village, she finds it...empty. As though everyone simply vanished. But in empty settlement, she does finds Kosuzu, alone in her shop
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Silence

* * *

A stiff, frigid breeze blew through a cracked window, dropping the temperature of the room. It was enough to wake the lone sleeper of the room, her old and matted blanket having no hope of keeping her warm. Shion sat up, shivering, looking around. The barren room was devoid of all comforts. Only two ragged blankets were in the room. The rest was old, cold wooden floor and rotting walls. Another breeze squeezed into the room, a sign of the coming winter. The faint light entering the room told her the sun had barely risen. She sighed, looking at the discarded blanket to her left.

_Jo'on must be up already…_

Shion stood and rolled up the blankets and tossed them against the wall. As she grabbed the door's handle and pulled, it came free in her hand. Unfazed, she stuck her finger into the hole and pulled, the door grinding on the floor. She walked into the 'living area and kitchen', really a big empty room with a rusty tap that didn't work, two old cushions and decaying cuburts. The room was visibly dusty, the specks dancing around the chilly room. Shion looked around. No Jo'on.

"Hmm...Jo'on? Are you here?" Shion asked the silent room, already knowing the answer.

It was odd though that she didn't leave a note or even a trace. Herself and Tenshi had found this empty, abandoned home and the celestial suggested making it her home while she waited of Jo'on to return from whatever that holy woman was putting her through. It was a good idea, better than living under a tree or begging Hakurei to let her stay awhile longer. And although the house has started to...deteriorate since she moved in, it kept the rain out. Expect under the windows. And the cold was less severe. But still, Jo'on was only back four days. A lot calmer and appearing to be more responsible, somewhat. Oh…

"Maybe she went to apologise to some of the humans she took money from. Or steal from the village elder. Either is likely." Shion whispered to herself.

Wherever she was, it wasn't here. May as well go find her. And if she can't, maybe find Tenshi. And she can't find either, she'll come home.

Shion, with a bit of effort, pried the warped front door open and exited the house, the ground cold on her bare feet. The rotting home sat alone on an empty part of Genskoyo's plain, an overground, disused farm plot to the left of it. The path to it was little more than a dirt trail that grass had yet to claim. The village was only a short 10 minute walk away. Undeterred by the cold air and ground, Shion started walking. The morning sun did little to warm the land, the orb barely risen above the horizon in the sky. Alone, Shion wandered along the path, eventually coming to more used portion of road, used to get to the Misty lake and the Scarlet Devil mansion. As Shion walked, she noticed that the landed seemed, very quiet. Although early, she expected to hear the occasional bird, or see a fairy or two floating around. They seem to love throwing stones at the house whenever she tried to sleep. But there was nothing. It was deathly quiet. Shion didn't really mind though. It was, pleasant in a way.

After a quiet few minutes, Shion came to the outskirts of the village. A large surrounding farmland, barren due to the recent harvest. As such, Shion didn't expect to see many farmers around, mostly a few humans toiling away at the stacked crops. But...there was no one. Not a human in sight. Shion stopped and glanced around. The few homes around looked like they were still locked up, as though the inhabitants had yet to rise. Continuing on, Shion reached the village entrance, a wooden fence cutting it off most of the village from the outside, a heavy wooden gate blocking her way forward. And there were no guards. Now that was unusual.

"Huh? Where is everyone?" Shion looked around again.

The humans always had guards on the entrances, with the gate open so the guards could question anyone. And yet…

"Hello? Is anyone there?" Shion called out.

Silence. No sound at all. Confused, Shion floated up to the top of the fence, looking over it. The village, usually starting to become lively at this hour, was empty. Not a soul. She flew over the gate and landed in the village.

This was...not normal.

Shion hastened her pace, wandering over to a shop by the entrance, finding it locked. She moved to the eatery next door, pushing aside the curtain acting as a door. The inside was dark and vacant, the stools not even set out. She backed out and ran down the central road. Everywhere was locked or empty. Something felt, wrong. She stopped at the schoolhouse and stuck her head into the school yard. Still nothing. This was going from odd to a bit worrying. Shion turned around and flew into the air. Pure. Silence. It was as if everyone just, vanished. Nothing on her way here. No one working outside. And the village was devoid of life. Shion landed and inhaled. Okay, someone must be around. As Shion closed her eyes to think, she heard something. It sounded like someone yelling. Shion turned towards it and started to move in its direction. It sounded panicked.

As Shion approached it, she started to make out words.

"...HELLO!?...one there...!?...answer...!"

She spotted movement as she rounded a corner, seeing something running into a building. It's a lone marked building, a sign with 'Suzunaan' painted in bold symbols above a curtain that was acting as a door. The buildings to either side locked up and plain. Shion walked over to it and stopped as she heard crying.

"Mother, Father, Akyuu...where are you…? Where is everyone?" a young sounding girl whispered through quiet sobs.

Shion grabbed the curtain and pulled it open, bells hanging from it making a soft jiggle. The girl, who was kneeling at a low table, suddenly whipped around, her face brightening instantly.

"Oh gods, someone!" she cried as she rushed over and latched onto Shion "Finally! I was so scared! I woke up and no one was home and when I went out the village was empty! No guards or shopkeepers and Akyuu's house was locked up and empty and I thought I was all a-a-aloooooone!"

"W-Woah…! Careful." Shion warned as she stumbled back from the sudden force of the girl grabbing her.

"S-Sorry. I'm just so happy that there's someone else apart from me here." the girl released her and backed away, smiling "I don't think I've seen you before. My name is Kosuzu Motoori. Book keeper of Suzunaan." Kosuzu bowed.

"Umm, hi. Shion Yorigami. I was going to ask if you had seen my sister, but judging by your crying and joy at seeing me, I doubt you have."

"Yorigami? I've heard that name before…wait, that god that stole half the village's money!"

"Yeah, that's my sister."

"Oh. Umm, well, that incident was a while ago and we have more important things to worry about, he he he…" Kosuzu laughed with a hand wave, clearly uncomfortable.

"I guess you're just a bit unfortunate that I'm the only person to still be around."

"What? No no no, really it's fine! I'm actually glad that someone showed up. I was...terrified I was all alone. So anyone will do, even a…" she trailed off.

"Poverty god and misfortune bank. I make everything I'm involved with worse…" Shion sighed rubbing her arm, a ghostly blue flame leaking off her.

Kosuzu visible locked up before relaxing.

"Well, uhh, everyone's disappeared with seemingly no trace, things can't get any worse! Sooo, it'll be fine." Kosuzu reassured.

"If you say so."

"Now then, umm, we should, uhh think of what to do next. You know, to figure out what happened and all that. Because well, this isn't nor-" Kosuzu turned and walked over to her desk as she talked, tripping on a loose floorboard.

She let out a quiet eep as she fell onto the table, knocking over a vile of ink, ruining a book she had laid out.

"Oh NO!" she grabbed the book, holding it up as black ink ran off the pages, staining through the paper.

"Sorry…" Shion whispered.

"No, it was an accident, I tripped. On a loose board! That wasn't loose a minute ago...it's fine! It wasn't an important book. Well, okay, it was kinda rare but it's fine, more important things to worry about." she placed the ruined book down and sat on a cushion, patting a second one "Come on."

Shion nodded and sat next to her, the young girl letting out a quiet sigh.

"Okay, so. You don't know what's going on?" Shion shook her head. "So neither of us know, great. (Sigh) Great...okay, so..let's start by...talking about what we know Shion. I woke maybe 30 minutes ago and my parents, were not around. So I got ready and went outside. No one was around, which was, uhh, worrying, but maybe everyone was still asleep! That was my reasoning. So I headed straight to Suzunaan and...nobody was here either. I went outside to look around and found no one. At all. So I ran around and...still saw no one. Akyuu wasn't home and all the shops and craftsmen workshops were locked up. So I...started to panic a little." Kosuzu explained as she scratched her cheek.

"Okay. I woke up and Jo'on wasn't home. I thought maybe she came here to either apologise for the money stealing. Or to steal more. Either or. The holy woman's training didn't invoke that great a change in her. So I wandered my way here. There weren't any fairies flying around. Or farmers outside. I was curious, so I flew into the village and looked around. Then I heard you shouting." Shion added.

"So that's what we know. Nothing. Good, good. Now, weeeeee need a plan. Because everyone has, you know, disappeared! If this is an incident, maybe Reimu knows what's happening?"

"What if she disappeared?"

"It's Reimu, she won't be affected by this! She probably just doesn't know anything has happened."

"And if she has disappeared?" Shion stared directly into Kosuzu's eyes.

"We'll...find Marisa!" Kosuzu suggested.

"If she's gone?"

"Sanae?"

"Gone?"

"Miss Yakumo?"

"Gone?"

"Uhh...oh, Aya!"

"Gone?"

"Uh, guh...umm...the door god? Or the hermit? Ehh, the vampires?"

"What if everyone is gone except us?" Shion asked, Kosuzu wilting from the suggestion.

"Come on, don't be so negative! We can't be the only ones here." her voice cracked as she spoke.

"But what if we are?"

"No, stop it. We are not alone! L-Let's go get Reimu." Kosuzu grabbed Shion's hand and dragged her to her feet, pulling her out the door "I always wanted to help solve an incident, but I never thought I'd have time to learn Danmaku. So let's go." she smiled as she released Shion to grab her coat, throwing it on before regrabbing her wrist.

Shion noticed it was forced though. The poor girl was probably scared. Not helped by her depressive remarks. Maybe she should hold her tongue for a bit until she calms down. Probably for the best.

Kosuzu lead her out of the shop and made a beeline for the entrance to the village. But as they went, she seemed to tense up as they passed shop after house of nothingness. So Shion did the only thing she could think of to make the girl feel better. She squeezed her hand. It had the desired effect.

* * *

AN: Behold, a new idea I thought of!

Now, I need to talk about somethings.  
One, the reason I made this is because, well, I'm very busy currently. The next few EX chapters of A Curse of Blood that I was going to work on are all going to be kinda long. I don't have the time to sit down and write it out like I want to. Even this was written over several days at a time. So when everything slows down, I'll start it again.  
Two, the idea for this came from...a very weird place. A year ago or so, I found and read like a chapter of a Hyperdimension Neptunia fanfic that had a character suddenly be unable to see anyone, although they were still there. I thought it was a decent idea. I then forgot about it...until like a week ago. I stopped, thought for a second, then promptly formed this story in my head. Yep...that was the inspiration. Note, this is not what's happening in this story.  
Three, I've actually already written the majority of the ending of this story, as well as the second chapter. I know where I'm going with this. Unlike A Curse of Blood. I will admit, until chapter 3 or so of that I had no idea how it was going to end. So, word of advice, think of the ending of a story before posting it.  
Four, you may think this is an odd mix of characters. Yeah, it is. That's one of the reasons I chose them.

So, that's about it. This will be very erratic for a while. Hope people find this interesting.

Review, Pm, tell me what you think.  
Anyway, enjoy.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Alone

* * *

The village was silent as Kosuzu lead Shion towards the entrance. As she pulled her along, she glanced at the closed doors and dark shops, a sense of fear gripping her. She was so glad Shion had shown up. She didn't care about the side-effects of having a goddess who described herself as a misfortune bank hanging around her. The fact that she had someone was good enough. Between the two, she was certain they would find more people, and hopefully figure out what happened. All she needed to do was stay positive and driven and everything would be fine. Kosuzu slowed her stride as she came to the main gate, realising a problem. It was shut tight. Okay, slight problem, but manageable.

"Hey, Shion, you can fly right?" Kosuzu turned to the goddess.

"Yeah."

"Can you lift me over the gate so we don't have to figure out how to open it?"

Shion nodded as she floated into the air, picking Kosuzu up by her arms. She flew up to the top of the fence, clearing it with ease. But unfortunately for Kosuzu, Shion failed to note how high she needed to go for Kosuzu herself to clear it, resulting in her nearly banging her legs into the fence. She noticed just in time to pull them up, but not in time to stop her from getting the hem of her skirt caught on the somewhat sharp spike at the top of the barrier. She let out a yelp, prompting Shion to notice the problem and pull her higher...causing the snagged cloth to tear off. Shion grimaced as she descended and dropped Kosuzu onto the ground, the book keeper wincing at the damage.

"Sorry. I should have gone higher…"

"It's fine, only a small rip. I'll get it fixed later." Kosuzu dismissed with a smile as she marched off, Shion wandering after_ She didn't mean to, so no use getting angry. It's not too bad anyway._

The land was completely still outside the village, empty fields devoid of life lining the sides of the path. Piles of crops sat ready for transport and storage. A cold wind whipped past the two as the only sound save the wind was quiet jingle of bells in Kosuzu's hair along with soft patter of boots and skin on dirt. It was unnerving to say the least. Soooo…

"So, what do you like to do?" Kosuzu asked to fill the dead air.

"Not much. Before the incident Jo'on started, I just hung around with my sister and did what she wanted. After, while she was with the holy woman, I hung around with Tenshi and just...mostly listened to her talk. We had parties a few times. Didn't work out well." Shion explained "Tenshi doesn't mind though, and having someone to talk to or mostly just hang around with other then Jo'on was nice in its own right."

"Oh, well that's nice. I run Suzunaan mostly on my own. Keep track of borrowed books, put unpopular and damaged ones in the sale bin. I like to collect and read demon books too. Those are really interesting. I help Akyuu with her work as well sometimes."

Shion nodded as the world went silent again. Kosuzu let out a quiet cough. No reaction. Well, she did say she usually listened to others talk…

"Soooo...what do you think happened?" Kosuzu asked as they cleared the farmland, now on the path to the forest of magic.

"Don't know."

"Maybe the moon people acted up again? Maybe we should go to Eientei after this?"

"Maybe."

"Ehh, have you seen anyone yet?"

"No. I haven't even heard any birds." Shion looked around.

"Yeah. This quiet is creepy."

After that, the conversation died. No point attempting to keep it going. Shion isn't a talker. They should keep an ear out for any noise anyway. The path was uneventful. The crunching of dirt and chiming bells still the only sound. Kosuzu gazed out over the land. The green grass slowly swayed in the breeze. Nothing of note anywhere. Turning back, she observed the village. The lack of movement made it look like an abandoned and haunted place. She faced forward, sighing as she went. As they approached the trees of the forest, Shion pointed at the tree line.

"What's that?"

Kosuzu followed her finger, spotting an old wooden building.

"Oh, that's Kourindou. It's a shop that deals with outside things. I've gotten a book or 16 from the owner, one just two weeks ago actually. Maybe Rinnosuko's around!" Kosuzu smiled as she started running, sprinting over to the shop.

Shion chased after, easily catching up to the human by hovering after her. As she reached Kourindou, she slowed, her steps becoming hesitant. Shion slowed and looked at the shop. It looked aged, like whoever owned the place didn't care to clean up. Kosuzu looked, unnerved. She stopped in front of the shop's door.

"W-Where is everything?" she looked around.

"What do you mean?"

"Rinnosuke has a load of stuff and junk around the outside of the shop normally. But nothing is here…"

"Maybe they cleaned up?"

Kosuzu shook her head and grabbed the door handle and tugged. It refused to budge, locked. She attempted to look through the door's window and found herself too short, hopping vainly to see. Shion stood on her toes and looked into the shop. The inside was barren, empty desks and shelves save a few small random piles of tools or...toys? She wasn't sure.

"It's empty."

"He's not there? Maybe he's behind some merchandise?" Kosuzu suggested.

"No merchandise to hide behind. It looks mostly cleared out. Want a look?"

The girl gave a slow nod as Shion lifted her up under her arms and held her to the window, Kosuzu grabbing the thin cross bar preventing someone crawling in. Her heart sank. Kourindou was...empty. Almost like he moved and left it vacant, the scraps not important enough to move left behind. Something is wrong, really, really wrong…

"Well, uhh, I guess he's not home. Maybe there was a Kappa spending spree?" Kosuzu suggested, attempting to rationalise Rinnosuke's empty shop.

"Kosuzu. Maybe everyone has just-" "Don't say that!" she cut her off "There is a reason, there always is. People don't just vanish!"

"What about the whole dream problem a while ago?"

"Oh, that. But the dream people were still around in the real world right? Or something to that effect. So unless everyone just decided to dream hopping or maybe go to the Underworld, or that place Miss Hijiri was trapped in...there are a lot of places people can just go actually. But no...that doesn't explain it. Rinnosuke's stuff would still be around unless he sold it. And I doubt managed to sell all his stuff. A lot of it is...pretty much broken junk. No one would buy it save Marisa or a random Kappa, and rarely more than a scrap or three. How is everything just...gone?" Kosuzu asked no one, sitting down on the step.

Shion sat next to her, silent. It did seem odd. If this guy kept piles of junk around, enough from the sound of it to be able to hide behind, it was unlikely that it all just was sold. Hmm, what was happening…?

As the two sat there, Shion heard something. It was low, very, very low. But it was a sound. She couldn't quite put her finger on what it was, but, within the quiet, it was audible.

"Do you hear that?" Shion asked.

"Huh, hear what?"

Shion raised a finger and closed her eyes, listening. Kosuzu followed. She strained her ears, listening. At first, all she heard was wind. Then, something quiet appeared. A soft...humming?...HUMMING!?

Kosuzu jumped to her feet and ran out to the road, turning towards the village. From where she was, there was a slight hill down to a more flat land where the village and farms where. And on the path going up the hill, she spotted a pale pink parasol. From the angle she was at, all she couldn't see who was under the parasol. But it didn't matter. Her face lit up as she ran towards it, Shion chasing after.

_Kosuzu really wants to find more people. Or maybe she wants to find someone other than me…_

"Hey!" Kosuzu let out a cry as she approached the parasol, quickly catching a glimpse of the person underneath.

It made her stop in her tracks. The parasol shifted to reveal a head of green hair with piercing red eyes. Yuuka Kazami smiled at the two.

"Finally, I was wondering where the humans were. The village is locked up tight and is more a haunt then a hamlet. Is there something on at the shrine? If so, it was in poor taste that Reimu didn't invite me."

Kosuzu let out a strained whine as Shion looked at the woman. From Kosuzu's reaction she probably wasn't expecting to meet them, or exactly happy to meet them.

"Who are you?"

"Hmm, oh, you don't know? That's new. My name is Yuuka Kazami, a youkai with a love of flowers. From the look of you, I can guess who you are...your someone who shouldn't be hanging around people. If I recall, you drag all those around into ruin. Or was that the sister? The two of you are both interchangeable I believe in regards to that, am I right?" Yuuka smiled, a veiled hint of annoyance in her tone.

"H-Hey, Miss Kazami, how about we not fight? We should be happy we found each other!" Yuuka turned her attention to Kosuzu.

"Why?"

"Because everyone in the village has disappeared. I couldn't find anyone. So when Shion showed up I was so relieved. She said there wasn't anyone on the way to the village either. I suggested we go find Reimu or failing that Marisa. We're on our way there now. To see if something is happening."

Yuuka gave a confused look at the two before her smile faded.

"Hmm, the reason I went to the village was because I awoke this morning to find the garden empty of the usual irritating fairies that make it their playground. Emphasis on awoke. I don't sleep normally. And yet...starting from a week ago I can't go two days without sleep. It is...frustrating. I was considering even going to that Eientei place if it didn't stop. But when there were no fairies around this morning, I was happy. Finally, some quiet. But then it became too quiet. I realised the sky lacked birds, and the few insects that still yet lived and endured the cold had vanished. The insects I could forgive for leaving, and possible the birds, but the fairies? No, that was incorrect. The path was quiet, and village silent. So the next course of action was to annoy the maiden into compliance so I could return home to wait and enjoy the peace." Yuuka explained with a twirl of her parasol.

Kosuzu nodded.

"Okay, so adding what you just said, so far we know the path to the misty lake, the path to the garden of sun, half of the path to the Hakurei shrine, the actually garden, the village and Kourindou are all empty." she nodded "Things are looking...worse by the second. But, maybe the shrine has people!"

"Hmm, a possibility. Or maybe everyone up and vanished without a trace, never to be seen again?" Yuuka smirked, Kosuzu shaking her head.

"Please don't suggest stuff like that! This is serious!"

"I know, I know, calm down. You'll give yourself a heart attack. Maybe this has to do with that junk owners stock disappearing."

"What do you mean?"

"You didn't hear? Surprising. Some six days ago I was on my way to a party at the shrine I invited myself to when I passed by an angry half breed. His outsider...junk, had all but vanished. He was quite incensed over the matter. I don't know what came of it, but from the fact his shop remains empty I can guess he never found it. Not that I care truly." Yuuka said with a disinterested tone, playing with her hair.

"Okay, that's new information. Good, we're learning things. So the next step will be to continue onto the shrine. So, let's go I guess." Kosuzu announced turning around.

Before Shion turned, she noticed that Yuuka wasn't following, instead turning to leave.

"Where are you going?" Shion asked, Kosuzu stopping.

"Hmm? Why, home of course. You two are going to the shrine, so I've no need to. Hope it goes well." she waved as she continued to leave.

"Wait, Miss Kazami!" Kosuzu ran back and grabbed Yuuka's hand, the youkai tensing up "Please come with us. So far it's only the three of us we know are still around. Shouldn't we stick together in case something happens?"

Yuuka glared down at Kosuzu, the young girl shrinking under the harsh scowl that had formed on her face.

"Book lender, I would prefer to not get involved in all this. Especially if it ends up just being pawned off onto the maiden. It would be a waste of time. So I think I will go." she yanked her hand away.

"What if Hakurei isn't there?" Shion asked.

"Isn't there? She's rarely anywhere else."

"What if she's gone too. What if everyone is except us?"

"Shion, please don't talk like that." Kosuzu begged.

"If she is there, you can leave, but you should come in case she isn't. If it's only the three of us, then we should stay together." the goddess suggested, Yuuka's scowl softening.

"True...true. Fine. I'll come to the shrine. And if the girl is there, I'm leaving."

"That's fine. Okay everyone, let's go! To the shrine!" Kosuzu cheered as she ran back up the hill, Yuuka sighing.

"I hope you don't drag us down." she muttered as she passed Shion.

She only glanced to the side, following after.

* * *

The forest had a chill to it. The sun failed to pierce the thick roof of leaves, leaving the path in dim twilight. The leaves held an orange tinge to them, a rain of them falling all around the three as they continued along the path. Yuuka had closed her parasol and was using it as a walking stick, the youkai looking increasing bored as they walked. Kosuzu scanned the forest for non-plant life, secretly hoping to see a fairy or youkai flew by or jump out at them. But...nothing. Like everywhere else, the forest was seemingly abandoned. A cold, dark, leafy void. It was worse than when she had to walk to the shrine for the flower viewing. At least then there was a snap of twigs and the occasional glint of an eye through the bushes. Shion sped up and leaned in.

"Are you okay. You're rigid." she whispered.

Kosuzu jumped at the sudden voice, tripping over her feet and falling into a bush. She let out a groan as Yuuka laughed.

"My, you are jumpy book lender."

"I have a name." Kosuzu escaped the bush, brushing off leaves.

"I'm sure you do."

Yuuka walked past them and towards steps in the distance. Kosuzu sighed as she sped up, glad that they were nearly there. The steps lead to the Hakurei shrine, the structure sitting atop a hill. Soon, they'll be there. Yuuka reached the steps and stopped, waiting for the two. Gazing up, Kosuzu winced as the sun hit her eyes. A sense of fear hit her as she stood there.

_What if she's not there...no, don't think that!_ Kosuzu started running up the stone steps _She'll be there!_

Shion floated after her, keeping pace with the human. Yuuka? She started a slow climb up them, opening her parasol. She was in no rush.

They rose above the trees, the torii coming fully into view. Soon...soon…!

Kosuzu jumped up the last step, passing under the crimson arch. Shion landed as she did, looking around. The stone path was cold to the touch, the goddess wandering over to the donation box as Kosuzu ran by it to the shrine itself. She glanced into the box, noting it empty. A weathered rope rested above it, attached to a tarnished bell that was suspended from the roof that guarded the box from rain. Shion casually grabbed the rope and pulled, wanting something to break the silence. Something broke all right...the rope came loose and fell into the box.

"Oops…"

"Well, that'll be a nice surprise for the maiden." Yuuka joked walking up to her "Maybe you shouldn't touch anything, hmm?"

Shion sighed, stepping away from her.

As they did this, Kosuzu reached the main building, sprinting up the steps.

"Reimu! Hey Reimu! Something's wrong, we need your help!" she called out as she grabbed the wooden door, sliding it open.

She opened it to find...a dark, desolate interior. Nothing lit, windows still covered by shutters. A table sat in the middle of the room, cups laying on their side, as though dropped or cast aside. She...wasn't here…

Kosuzu started to shake.

"Hello? Reimu!? Please, please be here, REIMU!?" Kosuzu ran inside, sticking her head into the kitchen.

Empty.

She backed away and ran to the bedroom.

Empty…

She swallowed as she opened the door to the small storage room.

Spare clothes...blankets...cups and bows...but no Reimu.

Shion reached the door.

"She isn't here...is she?"

"Well, things just got more...complicated, didn't they?" Yuuka added as Kosuzu turned to them, a look of terror on her face "Guess we're all alone then."

* * *

AN: Chapter two, as I said, was mostly written. So here it is.

I'm glad to see people find it interesting. Yuuka has joined the group, bringing it to three. The story will be coming out a bit slow now as work for college is piling up, but I'm hoping not have this have massive gaps between chapters. It's not going to be extremely long, maybe 10-12 chapters. As such, the chapters will be getting a bit longer as I go.

Review, pm, hope you like it.  
Anyway, enjoy.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Trio

* * *

Yuuka turned away from the shrine and walked down the steps, frowning. Of course the girl wasn't here. That would be too simple. Sigh…

"Well, now we have a problem." the youkai announced as Kosuzu exited the shrine.

"Ehh, m-maybe she's at Marisa's? Or Marisa is th-" "Oh please, just stop." Yuuka cut her off, the human flinching "Reimu Hakurei is not here. The shrine maiden in charge of fixing crap like this is. Not. Here. Her mage of a friend won't be there. The green haired annoyance probably won't be at her shrine. Yukari disappeared a week ago to do gods know what in some far hung space I doubt we'll find. We are alone Motoori! A human, a youkai and a goddess."

Shion walked out of the shrine and scratched her neck.

"What should we do then?"

"I don't know. I'd prefer nothing, but it appears that is not an option. Humans, youkai, animals and everything in between, gone. We could go wandering around Gensokyo with the hope of finding someone, but if we don't find someone...we may be f**ked." Yuuka spat as she passed the donation box.

"Surely there are animals still around…"

"Oh really? We have not seen a bird or bug in the forest, they've vanished from the garden. Have you seen anything? A fox? Cat, dog?! Your village has countless animals in it! Surely dogs would be barking and cats mewling to be fed! But there is nothing, just...stillness. A hollow void of a space." Yuuka fumed, gripping her parasol so tight it was nearing the point of snapping.

"We could go looking?" Shion suggested.

"Look for what? We have no idea what's happening."

"There has to be a clue Miss Yazami, we just need to look in...places. We need to search Gensokyo. If someone caused this...there must be something to find." Kosuzu walked over to her, the woman staring down at her "At least the three of us are here. I'd be too scared to go alone." she smiled, Yuuka huffing.

"I would prefer to have someone who could fight if things went wrong...but I suppose you are better then Larva or some youkai fearing farmer. Fine, we shall stay together until we resolve this. Who knows, you might grow on me?" Yuuka joked, her grin noticeable forced "And you better not cause us trouble." she glanced at Shion.

"I'll try…"

Yuuka let of a sigh as she looked out through the torii and over the forest of magic.

_Alone with a weak human who cannot fight and a goddess of misfortune and poverty. What a pain in the ass. There are worse choices, but in reality, it might be better if I was alone. Ha, yes, alone...like usual. But no, this situation requires action, and only we appear to be around to take it. We need a plan though, and more then 'go looking'. Hmm…_ Yuuka internal monologue was cut off by the two flanking her, a smile from Kosuzu and a blank stare from Shion.

"Let's go...we'll talk and walk." Yuuka said as she descended from the shrine.

The two ran after, attempting to keep pace with her fast stride.

"Now then, we require a plan of action. More then walking around, going to and fro in search of people. Think of important places. The village and then shrine are two, but there are more." Yuuka explained as they reached the bottom of the steps.

"Uhh, Eientei?" Kosuzu suggested.

"Yes, a place said to be eternal. Mayhap they're there. I doubt it, but the village of those annoying birds and wolves as well is a place of interest. It is the only other settlement in the land."

"What about the vampire's home?" Shion asked.

"Hmm, I supposed the mage may be there. But it is unlikely if Hakurei isn't here. The doctor's is the best place to start."

"Hmhp, okay! We have a plan, Eientei and then the tengus!" Kosuzu announced with a cheer, making Yuuka wince.

It was going to be a long day with her around.

"But on the way, can we stop by Suzunaan? I forgot my glasses in the rush to leave. And maybe just check Marisa's house too as we go?"

"If we need to myself or Shion will read something if our poor little book keeper can't see." Yuuka taunted "And why the witch's home? She won't be there." she added, annoyed.

"Well, about Eientei, what if we find something in a language you can't read?"

"Who would be writing in anything but Japanese?"

"Doctor lady or the princess of Eientei. What if there's something important in the moon's language?" Kosuzu shot back, making the youkai frown.

"Fine."

"And as for Marisa...I just want to make sure...okay? Please?"

"(Sigh) Alright, we will check the witch's home on the way. Gods, you are insufferable…" she muttered under her breath, a glower on her face.

Kosuzu gave a smug grin as Yuuka relented, Shion shaking her head in silence. That wasn't something to be proud of.

The return through the forest was as quiet as before. Low thuds of shoes and feet on dirt. No animals or insects. A deathly silence. Shion looked around as they walked. Kosuzu was visibly nervous, quick glances to the left and right as they went. Yuuka didn't speak, instead opting to spin her parasol and hum to herself, the sound barely audible unless you strained to hear it. A snap of a twig or the rare crunch of old leaves echoed out rarely, adding brief sounds that reverberated around them. It was a haunting walk. But soon, Kosuzu turned towards the trees, pointing out into it. Among the trunks, barely visible, was a structure.

"There! Marisa said you can't normally see it from the path but in the winter the bushes thin enough to see it." she announced.

Yuuka shot her a glance.

"Well then, go on, off you go."

"W-What?"

"You wanted to waste time and check her home, so go check. We'll wait here." Yuuka said, shooing her along.

"But, uhh, what if something is there?"

"Like what?"

"I'll go…" Shion walked over.

Yuuka rolled her eyes.

"So quick to relent. Just hurry up and go."

Kosuzu smiled as she walked off the path, Shion floating after. The book keeper had to step around and push through thin and bare bushes as she made her way forward, Shion scratching her cheek.

"Do you want me to carry you?"

"No, I'm fine!" she smiled as she tripped on a thick branch, face planting into a pile of leaves.

Without missing a beat, she jumped up and continued, ignoring a sneering laugh from Yuuka that was audible thanks to the quiet.

* * *

After a few minutes, she broke out of the bush line and made it into the small clearing Marisa's home sat in. An overgrown path of flagstones lead up to the house, the wooden home looking worse for wear. The dark wood was covered in ivy and the windows looked like they were going to fall out of their frames. A sign with 'Kirisame Magic Shop' carved into it was nailed above a side door, a few of them coming loose. It was in general disrepair. Kosuzu walked over to the side door, and twisted the doorknob, the rusty metal protesting as it turned, the door opening. She smiled.

"Her shop is open. Maybe she is here!"

She walked into the 'shop', her nose instantly wanting to fall off. It smelt of a mix of mold, sulfur, decay and a scent that can only be described as 'classically' alchemical.

"Uhgh!? Paugh!? What is that smell?!" Shion coughed as she covered her nose, wincing as bile built up in her mouth.

"O*cough, cough!* Oh gods this is night*cough*htmarish!" Kosuzu added.

She attempted to look around before her eyes started to sting, forcing both of them to back away from the door. After 5 minutes of coughing and retching, they turn back towards the door.

"O-Ok-kay, gah, hopefully the smell has cleared out a bit."

"I doubt it…"

Kosuzu ignored her and walked over to the shop again, using her sleeve to come her nose and mouth. Within the dark shop was a cluttered mess of glass bottles and clay jars haphazardly stored on tables and shelves. A few books were lined up as well, others stacked in unstable towers. Loose pages were thrown everywhere. Some shelves carried pots of mushrooms or dried fungi.

"Marisa! Hey, Marisa, are you here?!" Kosuzu yelled into the shop as she tiptoed around the piles to a door, opening it into her home. Within wasn't much better, junk and books thrown around the floor and shelves. Her chairs were covered with notes as was her table. More jars and bottles lined the room's corners as well as more mushrooms. Kosuzu attempted to get to the staircase at the back but found it impossible to navigate due to debris. She backed up into the shop to find Shion examining a bottle.

"I don't think she's here."

"Guess Yuuka was right. What is this stuff?" she asked as she undid the bottle's cork.

"I won't open stuff in here Shion, it could be-!" she was interrupted by a flash of light as the liquid in the bottle vapourised and shot out a bolt of lightning, the bolt piercing the roof and flying off into the sky.

"...Noted…"

"Knowing Marisa, this stuff is probably those bomb things she throws in fights."

"The brown jars that explode on impact?" Shion asked.

"Yeah."

Something made a thud outside, the two turning to the door. Yuuka appeared at the door.

"What was th-?! Oh what the F**K IS THAT SMELL!?" she backed away as she covered her mouth, paling.

What sounded like retching and liquid hitting the ground followed. The two exited the shop as Yuuka walked back over.

"Ugh, okay...what was that lightning." Yuuka wiped her mouth as she talked, her voice horse.

"Shion opened one of Marisa's creations and it shot lightning."

"*Cough…* Okay then. Come on, lets lea-...hmm, actually, go grab some of them…" Yuuka stopped herself and rubbed her chin.

"Okay." Shion floated back into the house and reemerged holding several jars.

"Motoori, grab one and throw it." Yuuka ordered.

She nodded and grabbed on, chucking it into the open area. It shattered on impact as the reagents reacted and exploded in a bright flash of blue and white, an icy spike sitting at the point of explosion.

"Now open one."

Kosuzu grabbed a second and opened it, a flash escaping before a gout of fire, the flames burning a line out in front of her before fading away.

"Hmm, yes, this will work. The witch has belts on her waist and legs to hold them, go find any spare." Yuuka ordered again as she took the bottles from Shion, the goddess flying off.

"Umm, Miss Kazami, what are you planning?"

"Well little book keeper, I wasn't exactly happy with the idea of protecting a defenceless human if anything came up. But if we arm you with the witch's explosives, well, you can be of some help."

"Ehh, are you sure that's a good id-" "Yes it is." Yuuka cut her off, the human wilting.

A crash came from within as Shion came out of the door holding several belts with pockets.

"I knocked over some books…"

"I couldn't care less. Put them on."

Kosuzu sighed as she complied, donning the four she was given. One on her waist, one across her chest, one on her leg under her kimono's skirt and a final on her arm. Each had a different number of pockets.

"Grab more bottles." Yuuka pointed at Shion.

As the goddess left, Yuuka started slotting bottles and jars into the belts pockets. She filled the waist and arm one with what she had.

"I look like a character from one of those manga things Sanae showed me…" Kosuzu complained.

"Be quiet, you should be happy that you can defend yourself." Yuuka shushed as Shion returned.

With her help, they filled up her chest belt and attempted to do the leg one before she stopped them, doing it herself. All in all, Kosuzu had near 40 Kirisame brand explosives strapped to her. The book keeper glanced at them all.

"Is this safe?"

"Knowing Marisa...not even remotely." Yuuka joked.

Shion looked at the bottle still in her hands along with a spare belt.

"What about these?"

Yuuka grabbed the belt and strapped it to her arm, placing five bottles in it. She shoved the other three into Shion's hoodie's pocket.

"In case we need them. Now, I'll admit that it wasn't a waste of time, but we need to keep going." Yuuka grabbed Kosuzu as she lifted her up, flying back to the path, Shion following.

As she dropped her off, Kosuzu turned to her.

"Don't do that!" she fumed.

Yuuka laughed as she walked on, the two following.

The rest of the trip was uneventful, the group exiting the tree line, walking out into the cold light again after 10 or so minutes. Yuuka stopped at the top of the slight hill down to the human village, scanning the still land.

"The air...it's almost stagnant with how little flow there is to it." she commented.

Shion opened her mouth to speak, before closing it. She's...right. The breeze had stopped, the frigid air felt like it was frozen in place from the cold. It didn't feel right.

"What do you mean? The wind is blowing." Kosuzu corrected.

"What? No it isn-" Shion slowed as a puff of air blew by her ear.

Was that...wind? No...it felt more like someone breathing.

The 'wind' started to pick up as it briefly blew by Yuuka as well before stopping, Kosuzu smiling at the soft sound.

"See? Come on, let's go." she grabbed Shion as she passed, dragging her along.

Yuuka's gaze meet her own before she turned away to continue on. Alright then…

* * *

The rest of the walk was uneventful, no movement catching anyone's eye. The sun shone down on the three as they approached the village, Yuuka taking the initiative and grabbing Kosuzu as they reached the gate. She let out an eep as she jumped over the wall, Shion floating after them. She dumped Kosuzu down just inside the village, the girl frowning.

"I said not to do that!"

"What, you needed help right? The gate was closed earlier when I came by and you said you were in here. I know you cannot fly, so I cut out the asking." Yuuka smirked as she wandered away, Kosuzu huffing as Shion landed next to her.

"At least you didn't get a new tear on your skirt...or explode." Shion whispered.

"Shion, I said that was fine, it was an accident. Now, maybe you could look around while I go get my glasses?"

Kosuzu smiled as she ran off, leaving Shion alone. She looked around. What to look at...is there anything too look at? It's true she really didn't look around before, more just sticking her head into random places. But where to check…

"The school…" Shion whispered as she floated into the air, quickly flying over the houses and shops, catching a glimpse of a wandering Yuuka and a running Kosuzu.

The school was always important, and the teacher from what she knew had her nose in half of the village's affairs. So maybe something is there? She doubted it. Shion doubted they would find anything at the doctors or the the tengus place too. But...Kosuzu doesn't seem to take her pessimism very well, and Yuuka would prefer not to be around her. So she'll just keep quiet. It would be better for everyone…

Shion landed at the school and pushed the front door, the wooden door gliding open with no resistance. The inside was cold and empty, a darkness shrouding the hall in front of her. To the right were wooden boxes for shoes, cheap looking slippers housed within. The school house was long, but lacked depth. Pass the boxes was a wall with a notice board. She hovered over to the hallway. The left had 3 doors, the right had 5. She turned right and floated down to the first. 'Library'. She moved to the second and third. Toilets. The fourth had a name plate. 'Keine Kamishirasawa'. With a tug, she pulled it open, the door not locked.

The office was messy. A low table with paper stacks sat in the center of the room. Cushions sitting in wooden holders with backs attached to the base sat on both sides. The walls were covered in notices and calendars. An inkwell was being used to hold two or three pages down on the table. Shion walked over and moved the inkwell, grabbing the top page. It was written in a quick scrawl. The light was too poor to read the characters, so she turned towards the light from the window, using it to see.

'**Memo,**

More complaints of headaches have been cropping up, to the point I worry my own is not that of stress but is in fact similar to the ones I've been hearing about. I'll need to go talk to Eirin about it soon.

Mokou showed up during one of my classes. Suppository something is wrong. I'll investigate it later.'

"Hmm, what does she mean?" Shion turned back to the desk to grab the other two, only to freeze in horror.

The inkwell was sitting on its side, black ink running over the paper.

"N-NO!" she lunged at the table, snatching up the pages as the ink ran over them, knocking the stacks of paper over. Around half of both had a black smear across them, ruining that part. Not even considering how it happened, Shion started reading before the ink ruined all of it.

'██████████back from Eirin, she doesn't kn█████████████████████████ Mokou was annoying Kaguya and during ███████████████████████████████████████████████████████ worrying. I need to go talk to Hakurei or Yu█████████████████████████.'

She looked at the second.

'Something is wrong. Mo██████████████████████████████████████████████████nd her. Rinn█████████████████████████ only getting worse. It won't █████████████████████████ what's wrong. We need █████████████ incident?'

The rest was illegible. It was a mess of black. H-How…? Why did the inkwell-?!

Shion turned and knocked a second stack of paper fell over, making her jump. Then it dawned on her. Whipping her head around, she grabbed her long hair. The tips of it had ink on them. When she'd turned to read the page her hair had caught the well and tipped it over! She had found a clue and ruined it. Of course she had! She ruins everything she's involved with! What if that was the only clue?! You can barely read ⅔ of it now! What the hell is she supposed to say to the two of them?! 'Sorry, destroyed some clue, oopsy'? Idiot, she's an idiot!

_Why do I go anywhere alone!? If I had just brought them or not come it would have been fine! Stupid, stupid stupid stupid! This is why everyone hates you! Kosuzu probably is just being nice to be nice. I tore her outfit and scared her into a bush, I knocked ink over important notes! This is why Yuuka didn't want her around!_ Shion gripped her head as she backed into a corner, an aura of blue radiating off her.

Jo'on's words started echoing in her head.

"_**Uhh, you are so useless! Why can't you do anything right?! I'd be better off without you! Just shut up and stand there! Every plan I put you in gets screwed up! Make someone else miserable for once!"**_

"I didn't mean to. I-I'm sorry…" Shion whispered to her thoughts "I'm sorry, I'm sorry…!"

Tears ran down her face as her thoughts consumed her, all of the complaints gnawing away at her. Jo'on right, why would anyone want to hang around with her? Tenshi probably was being nice too! Everyone hates her, she knows it!

Shion lost track of time as a ghostly flame haloed her, the girl unable to break out of the mental hole she threw herself into. After an unknown amount of time, someone shook her shoulder, Shion jumping. Kosuzu was crouched down next to her.

"Shion, what's wrong? We've been looking for you for the last hour?" she asked, concerned.

"I-I've ruined everything…" she whispered.

"What? What are you talking about?"

"There was a note by Keine, talking about something important. And I spilt ink all over it! I ruined it...like I ruin everything! Just leave me here...before I make things worse…"

Kosuzu noticed the clean page next to her, along with the half destroyed others. She grabbed them as she slid on her glasses, reading the three quickly. She gave Shion a small smile.

"Hey, come on now. It's not too bad. I can make out stuff about Eirin and Kaguya. So that means there may be something at Eientei. We were going anyway, so we'll find something there, I'm sure of it." she reassured dragging Shion up, ignoring the tinge of pain from the radiating energy.

"B-But Yuuka…"

"Won't know. You were searching the school for clues for the last hour and didn't find any. We'll head to the bamboo forest and Eientei. If Miss Keine was talking about them, something was up. So it's fine. Good job finding the clue."

Shion turned her gaze up to see Kosuzu smiling, not a hint of anger on her face.

"Why are you being so nice to me…?"

"Well, the first reason is that it's only the three of us and it would be bad to be yelling at each other. The second, infinity more important reason is why not? True, you can supposedly cause a few problems being around us, but that's no reason to leave you all alone. Now come on, let's fine Miss Kazami." Kosuzu grabbed Shion's hand and dragged her away, her aura calming down "And remember, keep the accident a secret, and she doesn't have a reason to be angry!"

* * *

**Village entrance**

Yuuka stood by the sealed gate, frowning. Where the hell is that Shion! She girl wandered off and is now wasting time. This is one of many reasons why working with others is tiresome. If she was alone she could just leave, but instead she must-!

Movement caught her eye and made her stop her brooding. Running down the main road was the book keeper pulling Shion along. Finally…

"And where were you?"

"Oh, Shion was looking for clues and was searcher the schoolhouse. Unfortunately she didn't find anything." Kosuzu explained.

Yuuka stared at the human before turning to Shion. The goddess' eyes had a redness to them that showed she had been crying. Searching for tears maybe?

"Whatever, are we going or not? Eientei will be annoying to find in the light, and if the winter sun sets it will be impossible to find."

"If the sun sets? It's barely 1 in the evening...probably?" Kosuzu said, before freezing "And I haven't eaten today…" she added.

"We are not stopping for snacks. If we need to we will eat the doctor's food." Yuuka grabbed Kosuzu arms and flew into the air, the girl letting out another eep as Shion followed.

"Now come on, let us be off." the youkai pointed towards the west, to a path around the outside of the village.

"Okay, follow the path and we should find a sigh for the bamboo, let's get looking!" Kosuzu walked ahead, Yuuka sighing.

* * *

AN: So...college is a thing...that can suddenly give you like three things to do at once, with only a week to do them, with the same deadline. For a solid month. I've been a small bit busy. So much so that I didn't realise A Curse of Blood's 1 year anniversary was the 1st of November until like three days ago.  
Sorry for the delay.

But I've more time for a week or so now until things pick up again, so I finished this half made chapter.  
Kosuzu is packing heat now, and things are only going to escalate from here. Thank you for waiting.

...Yeah, that's about it.

Review, Pm, keep on top of college work, least it consume you.  
Anyway, enjoy.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Fear

* * *

It didn't take long for the three of them to be on the path to the forest. A maintained dirt path leading southwards was easy to spot amidst the grass. Kosuzu lead the way, dragging Shion along as Yuuka wandered behind them. The youkai stared at the goddess.

_Now, what could have made her cry? Hmm, some revelation? Maybe she discovered something that lead her to believe we are alone forever. Something to do with her sister? No...I've heard they rarely got along and now are completely estranged. Were they ever close? It does not matter truly. I just want to know why the waterworks…_

Yuuka snapped back to reality as she spotted tall stalks of green coming into view. Now, time for this mess…

"Now, how are we finding the doctor's?" Yuuka asked the two.

"We can fly. It's only confusing if you walk…" Shion stated.

"How would you know that?"

"Jo'on got the flu once and made me go get her stuff."

"Goddess' can get sick?" Kosuzu raised an eyebrow.

"Mmm, rarely. Really anything can get sick, just different illnesses."

"True...Larva once showed up with a cold. A quick death and rebirth fixed it though." Yuuka smirked.

"That only works with fairies…"

"Mmm, true…"

The three stopped talking as they approached the bamboo, the woody green forming a thin, organic wall. Kosuzu ran her finger over it.

"Sooo…I need to be carried...again." she sighed.

Shion nodded as she grabbed Kosuzu, lifting her up into the air, making sure to clear the stalks. No need for a repeat performance of clothes ripping. Yuuka flew up and past them, shrugging.

"You may be some time carrying her such a distance while searching for it. I will go ahead. If I find nothing, it will save time. No need to herd everyone in and then out if there's nothing."

"Wait, Yuuka! We should st-" but Yuuka sped off before she finished.

* * *

The youkai grazed the tops of the bamboo, glancing back.

"Ugh, I can finally go at my own pace. Shion is so lethargically slow, needing to be almost dragged and the girl is so...happy. It is grating. As annoying as it was waiting for the goddess at least it was quiet." Yuuka muttered to herself _Although with what is going on, I need to attempt to get along with them, at least until it is sorted out. Or we find enough people so I can leave them to figure this out._

Yuuka sped across bamboo's canopy, scanning the green for a building. After 5 minutes of searching, she spotted white. Turning, she flew towards the colour change and grinned as the building came into view. Old, traditional, it was large, so large it was hard to understand how it managed to be concealed within the bamboo. Yuuka landed in the small open area and looked around. She had heard that this place had rabbits pouring out of every hole. But the clearing was still. Fantastic…

"Now then…" Yuuka walked up to the front door and pulled, and then pushed.

It rocked in its frame, refusing to open. Locked. Yuuka's scowl grew. Stupid door. She looked around. Well, if they're alone...and if this place has a chance at having something…

Yuuka stepped back and kicked the door, the wood splitting from the force as it fell apart, wood clattering to the floor. With a light hop, she cleared the debris and entered Eientei. The inside was a dark red/orange, light coming from candles held in brass holders. Despite them burning, they seemed to not be using their wax. Compared to the now destroyed wooden front door and exterior, the interior doors and a few walls were mostly all made of paper, the shoji having patterns decorating them. None were marked by any sign. Well that's just great. How was she to know what's important?

Ignoring her wayward thought, Yuuka started her search for the moon woman's...umm, what was it called? S...Ser…? Suture? Something to that effect. She'd never needed to go, so why would she know the name of the thing? Sigh…

Soon, she was walking down the building's main corridor, glancing at doors as she went. It was a haunting place, her shoes clacking along the floor as it groaned or creaked occasionally. Yuuka would stop and opened a door occasionally, the weak paper door sliding open to expose an empty room, most with a few beds or collection of tables in them. After a few minutes of wandering aimlessly, she noticed a different door. It was wooden for one thing, with a metal name plate attached to it. 'Kaguya Houraisan'. The youkai smiled.

"Heh, the eternal princess eh? Well, let's see if she is here. If she isn't then we may be in an even bigger mess than I thought. After all, nothing can affect her right?" Yuuka asked no one.

She grabbed the door and wretched it open, the lock failing. And inside...she froze at the sight. On the floor, was the princess...bisected in twain.

"...Excuse me, girl?" Yuuka said, staring at it.

Nothing.

"Uhh, I know you are alive, speak!"

Nothing…

"By whatever gods will listen, look at me girl!" Yuuka grabbed Kaguya's head and twisted, snapping the neck.

The girl was...wearing a mask? Yuuka grabbed it and pulled it off, the blank face underneath contouring to a smile as her arm dislocated and grabbed her leg.

"Nugh?! Let go!" she kicked Kaguya, who flew across the room and hit the wall, shattering into clear glass "What the…?"

"My, you have poor social skills, don't you?" a voice whispered in her ear.

It sounded like a wrapped Kaguya.

Yuuka turned to find Kaguya standing by the door, smiling. Before she could speak, she seemed to fade briefly before snapping back to complete, a headache suddenly gripping her.

"What was that?! Answer me!"

"Nahhh...why are you here alone?" the princess asked as she walked away.

"Stop!" Yuuka ran out of the room, finding her gone.

"You should stick together in weird situations like this."

Yuuka whipped around and grabbed at the voice, her hand catching air. Yuuka looked around again. Something is wrong, very, very wro-

"Heh he~even a loner like you understands strength in numbers. Why did ya fly off alone?" it asked.

"I can handle myself!" Yuuka yelled at nothing.

She continued scanning the area, looking for the girl. What was happ-ack?!

Yuuka let out a pained cough as a hand pierced her abdomen, a knife in its grasp.

"Ar-r-re you sure?" the hand twisted in her gut "Whatcha going to do? You want to play?" the youkai heard in her ear as she attempted to look to her side.

All she could see was a bit of black hair and the tip of a nose. Although, it seemed to...shimmer as she stared, Yuuka noticing the hair was really...green? And a h-hat…?

* * *

Yuuka gasped as she nearly fell over, catching herself. She was in Kaguya's room, no one in sight. Sigh, of course no one is her-here…  
She grabbed her head, a pounding coming from behind her eyes. What the...she felt sick...like something hit her head hard. She shook her head and sucked in air, the headache flaring before disappearing. That was annoying. Almost as annoying as finding the room empty. No one in sight.

"(Sigh) I guess the doctors place is next." she sighed as she exited the room, a puff of wind in her ear.

Hmm, who knew a draft could get this deep into the building?

Ignoring it, Yuuka walked deeper into Eientei, looking for anything of note. She didn't have to look far though, quickly coming to another wooden door. On it, a name plate with 'Yagokoro surgery' carved into it. Oh, surgery, that was the word. Close enough. But before she could open the door, she heard something calling out in the silent building.

"Miss Kazami?! Where are you?" it called out.

Yuuka rolled her eyes as she walked back towards it, Kosuzu and Shion rounding a corner.

"Oh, there you are! You shouldn't run off like that!" Kosuzu complained walking up to her.

"I wanted to try and search the building before you got here to save time. No point in all of us combing an empty location. Although, you made good time." Yuuka smiled.

"Good time? You call not being able to find the place for 30 minutes and Shion dropping me into a dense patch of bamboo good time? We've been held up for an hour!"

"...Excuse me…?"

That's...not right. She arrived at most 10 minutes ago after 5 minutes of looking. So 15 minutes difference. But they were an hour...but...where did the 45 min-?

Yuuka staggered as she grabbed her head, a pounding that felt like a hammer striking her skull flaring. Her vision doubled as she saw...saw...saw...y-yellow...a h-hat…

"Augh! Stop, stop!" she shook her head as the pain stopped, the youkai blinking as she noticed something.

She...was on a carpet. Shion was staring down at her as Kosuzu attempted to wake her via shaking.

"Miss Kazami!? Are you okay?!" Kosuzu asked as Yuuka sat up, confused.

What was she just doing…?

"Are you alright? We found you on the floor outside Eirin's room." Shion explained.

"We dragged you into a side room. Sorry it took like 30 minutes to find this place. What happened?" Kosuzu added.

"Half an hour…? What happened? I was in the girl's room and then...I, uh...went to the doctor's room…?" Yuuka guessed, rubbing her temple.

It felt like she had had something ripped out of her head. And it was a bit hard to think, before she suddenly snapped back to full clarity, her memory of what happened just a large blank. Yuuka sat up.

"Whatever happened, it doesn't matter, come on, we need to search the doctor's room so we can end this waste of time." she complained as she stood, her footing shaky.

"Miss Kazami, maybe you should sit down for a bit. You collapsed." Kosuzu attempted to grab her hand, Yuuka pulling away.

"I'm fine girl, come on."

Kosuzu sighed as Yuuka exited the room and walked back over to Eirin's room. She pulled the door knob and when it refused to open, tore it open with a sharp tug, the bolt-like lock breaking in the process.

"Yuuka, is breaking everything a good idea?" Shion asked as the youkai wandered into the surgery.

"I don't care."

Shion sighed as Kosuzu followed in, the two starting to search. So, according to the legible parts of Keine's notes, something happened in relation to here, plus something to do with headaches. Or something to that effect. She stepped into the room and looked around. The surgery was a sterile white, several glass fronted cabinets lining the back of the room filled with bottles of...something. Below was a crowded counter top covered in bottles and assorted medical objects, all of which Shion had no clue of what they did. Yuuka walked over to the corner where there was a small medical bed, sitting down as she looked around the room, almost like she was searching for something, and not a clue from her expression. Kosuzu had run over to a desk on the other side, pulling out a pair of round lensed glasses and was rooting through the papers on it. Shion approached Yuuka as she suddenly snapped her neck to the right, staring at nothing.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Nuh?!" Yuuka turned to her "I'm fine, this place is just a little off-putting...yes...that...just give me a minute." Yuuka shooed her away.

Shion walked over to Kosuzu, who was digging through the desks pages.

"I think something is wrong with her…"

"I get the feeling something happened to her and she's not telling us. Whatever it is, as long as she currently fine, we should just leave it. I'd prefer to look for important clues." Kosuzu whispered as she pushed away a pile of medical notes, noticing and grabbing a hastily scribbled note sitting on top of one.

'Make more painkillers for afflicted villagers,  
Examine willing villagers to diagnose if a disease,  
Speak to Mokou about wound,  
Locate Lady Kaguya.'

Kosuzu read off the note as she scratched her chin. What did that mean? She shifted another few pages as she grabbed another one, half buried with ink smudges on it.

'Mokou and Kaguya were fighting again, but something was wrong. Lady Kaguya disappeared after being knocked away and Mokou suffered a wound on her arm that isn't healing. She may have used her power to inflict a permanent wound on her, but those usually only last around three days. It has been five. I need to look into that when I have time.'

Kosuzu flipped it over.

'Something's wrong, headache not leaving, even me, can't find problem.'

Shion raised an eyebrow as she started to help look, noticing a single small bit of paper on the ground. She picked up the note, the scrawl in a messy, illegible language. Kosuzu took it off her.

'Not a disease. Something is wrong with everyone. Sudden pain, memory failure. Reisen missing, Kaguya missing. The rabbits are panicked, I need a solution.'

As she finished, Yuuka leaned over the two.

"Is there more?"

"Uhh…" Kosuzu started moving the papers around, glancing at the alien writing before throwing them aside "Medical report, ingredient list, missing persons, Mokou's complaint. Most of this is just Eirin related stuff." she held onto the notes "What do these mean though?"

"It means that something was going on and she was trying to figure it out. She mentioned villager problems, know anything?" Yuuka asked as she opened a door next to them, leading into a room filled with beds.

Before Kosuzu answered, Shion looked into room via the corner of her eye. She thought she saw a glimpse of something.

"Uhh, well, mother had a headache yesterday, but I thought that was due to both her and father going out to a party the previous night." Kosuzu answered as Shion stepped away from her.

She scanned the patient room, sighing as she realised it was just her mind playing tricks on her. Well, until she saw a green haired girl in the corner of the room. She seemed to flicker briefly before vanishing, Shion blinking. Who was...w-was that…?

She covered her eye as a headache suddenly flared behind her eyes, before vanishing in an instant, leaving her staring into an empty room. It would be weird for there to be patients in there with no doctor.

"Great, well now we have more questions. Headaches, the moon girl disappearing and Mo-something being hurt. This doesn't help us at all!" Yuuka complained.

"Well, uhh, it's some information at least. Now we know something was going on behind the scenes. Kinda."

"Humf, why couldn't we just find the answer and be done with this mess."

"That's not how mysteries work. You have to go from place to place, gather clues and then solve the problem by thinking it out."

"Motoori, this isn't a f**king book. You solve mysteries by throwing a maiden at it and they kick the crap out of everyone until it's resolved. Hakurei has solved countless stupid incidents by brute force. So I'd prefer if this could be solved soon, possible via a beating due to my temper being worn increasingly thin." Yuuka scowled at her, turning to the wall "What, are you going to suggest we wander over to the tengus, find a new note, go somewhere new, get note, brainstorm some ideas and confront the villain and save Gensokyo?"

Her tone had degraded to a sarcastic, venom oozing growl as she looked around the room.

"Miss Kazami, are you sure you're okay, you keep looking aro-"

"I AM FINE!" Yuuka yelled as she suddenly turned, before returning to a more…'relaxed' position, but still noticeable tense.

"Uhh, Kosuzu, you said you were hungry earlier, right?" Shion asked as she poked her arm.

"Oh yeah, yeah, let's go find some food. Maybe everyone's a bit on edge from hunger!" Kosuzu reasoned.

Yuuka growled again as Kosuzu marched off, Shion left staring at Yuuka.

"You felt the 'wind' earlier, correct?"

Shion nodded.

"Keep an eye out." she warned, walking away "I think something is here…"

Yuuka left the surgery, leaving Shion alone. Sighing, the goddess glanced around the room again, trying to notice anything unusual. As she exited the room, a puff of 'wind' hit her ear. She whipped around and found...nothing. Shion quickly paced away from the surgery.

* * *

Kosuzu made her way down Eientei main corridor, opening doors as she went. As much as she didn't want to steal Eirin's food, her hunger was overriding that worry. She just really needed to eat something. But, door after door, all she found were bedrooms.

"Come on...please…" she begged as her stomach growled at her.

After the 20th door, she finally opened shoji and was greeted with a large room with three boxes on the side and empty shelves. Before she could enter, Yuuka brushed passed her.

"Hmm, this looks like a storage room. Mayhap our book lender won't starve." she joked as she opened a box, smirking.

Kosuzu's eyes widened as Yuuka pulled out a somewhat wrinkled apple, the fruit overripe. Opening her mouth, Yuuka proceeded to devour the apple in four bites, eating into the core and seeds, chewing the center and leaving only the stalk behind.

"Hmm, it's edible. Leave it a day or two and they'll be rotten." the youkai commented as she opened a second.

Kosuzu ran over and looked inside. It was filled with salted, pre-cooked, dried meat made of...something. The next was filled with squashy white balls.

"Well, you're hungry yes? So, you have a choice. Over ripe fruit, meat that will outlast you in years, or...that."

Kosuzu swallowed at the choices. She doubted Yuuka would agree to go back to the village again for food. So...ehh…

Kosuzu grabbed an apple and bit into it, the fruit unpleasantly soft. It the dim light, she noticed the inside was a bit...off-coloured. Uggghhh…

Shion rounded the corner, tilting her head.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh Motoori, what bad luck, that one looks rotten." Yuuka chuckled as Kosuzu spat out the apple.

She grabbed another and bit into it. It was noticeable better in taste and texture. As Yuuka chuckled, movement caught her eye. She glanced at the box filled with the white balls and saw...someone grabbing one and eating it. She had green hair and a hat on. She twisted her head towards Yuuka, giving a lopsided smile before she just...vanished.

"What the-?! Did you two see-?" she stumbled as her head started pounding.

"Yuuka, what's wrong?" Shion asked.

"What? I...there was a...a thing…" the youkai whispered, unsure of herself before shaking her head "Nothing, it's fine."

The two looked as each other.

* * *

**1 hour later**

The three walked in a tense silence as they made their way towards Youkai Mountain, the massive location easy to spot from anywhere in Gensokyo. Them exiting Eientei was significantly easier them getting to it. Kosuzu had eaten three more apples before they had left, the poor girl constantly picking out rotten ones, Shion apologising afterwards. Yuuka had taken it upon herself to carry Kosuzu out to speed things along. And after much to grumbling and complaining when Kosuzu suggested it, they now were on their way to the tengu village to look for people, ignoring Yuuka's off-hand comment afterwards that no one would be there.

Kosuzu had a knot in her stomach as she moved, to the point of almost feeling queasy. Eirin's notes did little to give her hope of finding anyone or explain anything, coupled with how Yuuka was acting made her more worried than ever. She glanced over at the youkai. She was holding her parasol in a death grip, switching between looking around uncertainly to staring dead ahead. She looked like she was actively searching for something around them. With her constant scanning of their surroundings, it made her feel like...something was following them. A puff of wind blew by her ear, making her shiver. She knew it was her mind playing tricks on her, but if felt...warmer than it should have. And it was infrequent too. It kind of…felt like…

Someone breathing…

Kosuzu shook her head, banishing the thought. Stop it! The fear and loneliness was just getting to her, just calm down…

Shion touched her shoulder as she gave a shaky breath, making her jump.

"Hey, is that the hole to the oni place?" she asked as the path reached a split, one heading towards the base of the mountain, the other towards a hole in the ground in the distance.

"Huh?! Oh...sorry...yeah, I think so. I've never really been this way."

"Yes, it is. You can see it from the garden's edge, and we're somewhat close to it. Why?" Yuuka looked at Shion, before scowling "We are not going to that den of drunk idiots. We already had a detour to the annoying mage, and visited the doctors. We wasted time in the village. We do not have time to go oni hunting." Yuuka spat as she started to move towards the dark forest in the distance.

"B-But Miss Kazami! What if-" "If what? There is someone down there? If you want to descend into that burning cesspit of alcoholic debauchery, we will need to fly down the hole, followed by flying out of it due to it being a sheer drop into an abyss. Motoori, we do not have time, unless you would like to pass through the youkai woods at night?" Yuuka cut her off with a malicious smile.

Kosuzu looked down, disheartened, before clenching her hand into a fist. She was starting to get **sick** of Yuuka's constant complaining about her suggestions.

"We need to look in as many places as possible! We don't know what's happening! Eirin said there was something going around, effecting people, something happened to the moon princess and Mokou, both who can't be hurt by anything! As much as I want everything to be fine, I-I know it's not! But I refuse to just sit around and wait or do this half-assed like you seem to want to! We need to find people, find out what happened, find something! So we need to go to as many places as possible! Stop being so difficult!" Kosuzu screamed, her face flushed with frustration as she pushed the youkai, the woman staggering back a foot due to being caught off guard.

Yuuka recovered within a second of regaining her footing, her expression darkening. Kosuzu seemed to realise her mistake after calming herself, stepping back as Yuuka approached. Shion, sensing the air growing tangible tense, stepped in front of Kosuzu as the youkai reached them.

"Yuuk-" "Move." Yuuka closed her parasol and batted Shion away, the goddess being thrown onto her back.

The almost murderous aura coming off Yuuka made Kosuzu breath stall, a terror gripping her as words echoed in her mind.

"_**Now class, remember to be careful around all youkai that enter the village. Especially this woman." Keine pinned a drawing of Yuuka onto a corkboard "This woman likes to visit the village every once and awhile. If you see her, avoid her. If she talks to you, be polite and try to leave as soon as possible. And do NOT attempt to harm her or touch her. Be kind and gentle with plant life around her. Understood?"**_

"_**Yes Miss Kamishirasawa!" the class of 6-10 year old's, a 7 year old Kosuzu included, yelled.**_

"Y-Y-Yuu-uk-ka...I-I'm sorry, I-I-I was j-just f-frustrated and-" the youkai placed a hand on her shoulder, her voice dying in response as it came close to crushing her shoulder.

"Motoori...no, Kosuzu, you could stand to be more assertive like that more often." Yuuka gave a wide grin, the expression oozing a mix of anger and joy, before releasing her and beginning to walk towards the hole to the Underground.

Shion jumped back onto her feet and ran over to Kosuzu.

"Are you okay?"

The human didn't respond, simply falling to her knees as the tension released her, legs crumbling from lack of rigid support. She sucked in a breath.

"I-I'm fine, can you help me stand? My legs feel like that outsider gooey paste Sanae likes." Kosuzu asked.

Shion nodded as she dragged her to her feet, the roles reversed as Shion pulled the still shaken Kosuzu along towards the hole. Ahead of them, Yuuka had opened her parasol again and was slowly making her own way towards it. Her grin faded to an irritated smirk.

_Gods Motoori, who knew you had the gall in you to push me? Humf, well, you did grab me before, maybe you have more bravery than I thought? Or more stupidity...either/or. Hmm, who knows, by the end of this mess you might end up with that overly happy demeanor of yours dampened and hardened...or shattered completely. I certainly wouldn't mind. In fact...breaking humans used to be a fun pass time until the rule about not harming villagers became a thing. Mayhap I can destroy that optimisms and make you into something like..._

Yuuka's thoughts were interrupted as she reached the Underground's entrance. Staring into the hole, all the youkai can muster is what could only be described as a mix of a rueful and annoyed laugh, the sound noticeable off putting and forced.

Hearing it, Shion started pulling Kosuzu faster as the book keeper regained control of her legs, removing Shion's need to drag her.

"Miss Kazami, what's wrong?!" Kosuzu asked as they reached her.

Shion glanced into the hole as she reached her, her face dropping.

"Umm...Kosuzu…" she pointed at the entrance.

Kosuzu glanced at it, before fully turning and gazing into the abyss.

Or...where an abyss should have been. Instead, there was a three or so metre drop, before you hit solid stone. It didn't look like it was filled it though.

It looked like the hole had never been there.

"Heheh...hahahahaha! Is this some kind of twisted joke?! What the actually f**k is going on?!" Yuuka laughed into the 'hole', unable to stop her laughter as Shion and Kosuzu stared on it confusion.

"What...happened to hell…?"

* * *

AN: Hey, new chapter, made in between college work and studying, as I've tests starting on Monday.

As you can see, things are...getting weird. Also, sorry for the long breaks between chapters, I'm just really busy.

Review, Pm, hope people are excited for Christmas, I forgot about it until around a week ago.  
Anyway, enjoy.


End file.
